Blame me for job losses

American Thinker ^ | December 11, 2008 | C. Edmund Wright

[neverdem]

When the jobs report for November came out last week, many so-called "experts" were shocked at the massive loss of an estimated 533 thousand jobs. Even a Time /CNN organization called "The Curious Capitalists" were at a loss to explain it.

Let me attempt to help out these "curious capitalists" (though I am still skeptical that anyone working for CNN or Time is either curious or a capitalist).  I caused part of this job loss and I know precisely why; the election. The results portend big trouble for small business.

The job destruction process has started. We are about 20% of the way through our ramp down process and on schedule to complete the shut down by spring 2009. Watch the financial news and you will see continued job cuts each month. We are not alone in our strategy. Far from it. Atlas has shrugged all over the country.

Like many business owners, we are no longer willing to take all of the financial and legal risks and put up with all of the aggrevation of owning and running a business. Not with the prospects of even higher taxes, more regulation, more litigation and more emboldened bureaurcrats on the horizon.  Like others we know, we are getting out while the getting is, well, tolerable. Many who aren't getting out are scaling back.

We learned just this week that getting out of business is harder than we thought.  Take Republic Windows & Doors of Chicago,  where being out of money and out of paying customers apparently does not give a business the right to shut down. Nor does it give that business' bank the right to withold credit. According to the unions, Jesse Jackson and the Governor of Illinois (yes, THAT governor), this company must continue to pay its employees salaries and benefits.

But pay them with WHAT? Liberals seem to be clueless as to where "the money" comes from.  They love to tax, regulate and redistribute wealth -- all the while decrying the very profit motive that created it -- something they do not understand. If they did, they would not naively insist that a business that is out of money, out of customers and out of credit stay open so as to pay employees.

And that is but one example of why the lay-offs of November 2008 - which will be part of George W. Bush's statistical record - fall in reality on the Obama election. Business owners understand that the election of 2008 just gave a lot more power to people who think like these liberals in Illinois. For crying out loud, an Illinois liberal is now "President elect" and he chose another one for his Chief of Staff. He chose Michigan liberals for his economic team.  Illinois and Michigan are broke!

It is no secret that owners circulated endless emails leading up to election day discussing lay off plans were Obama to win.  Entrepreneurs instinctively understand the danger posed by larger liberal majorities in power. The risk-reward equation and fierce independence spirit of start up businesses are anathema to the class warfare, equality of outcome and spread the wealth mentality of the left. 

We have very little appetite to have our lives run by elected or un-elected officials like Barney Frank and Jamie Gorelick. We have no appetite to be taxed even more by the likes of Charlie Rangel. These clowns destroyed Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and our entire economy as a result. Congress, by their own admission, cannot even run their own damned dining room with a captive customer base!  Some of them refuse to pay their own tax burden. Why in the world would we subject ourselves to their ilk armed with the unchecked powers of the Oval Office and both houses of congress and a massive army of bureaucrats?

We got into business to be independent. We will get out for the same reason.

The fact that Obama is not in office yet is irrelevant. Businesses must see "around the corner" and plan accordingly. Rightly or wrongly, business owners see a huge anti-business shift in motion and they are making preparations NOW. We do not want to have business illiterates like Chris Dodd dictate our decisions from the comfort of his home made possible by a quid pro quo Countrywide mortgage.

(As the owners of Republic Windows are finding out, government will nose their way into your business even if you are not thriving.)

Most of the kind of people who start and run businesses are by definition trying to opt out of depending on anyone else -- be it a large corporation or government -- for their welfare. We take on tremendous risks and responsibilities.  We do so expecting a better than average return.  Since we require nothing from government, most of us deeply resent and resist being pestered by government.

For nearly 30 years, I have been one of these business people. It was an amazing journey and literally involved blood, sweat and tears. But now I am done. This election screams that we are going to see a deterioration of the risk-reward equation and the ability to be left alone. Apparently, any appreciation of our crucial place in the economy is lost on over 50% of the voters as well as those they elected.

So, like many business owners, I will "stay home" so to speak. Others more brave than I are opting to try and stay in business by cutting way back on purchases and payroll. They have already started. They are not waiting for the little sign on Obama's lecturn to be updated to the official Presidential seal.  November 2008 job losses belong to "The Office of the President Elect." I know. I caused some of them, and I know why.

[Lorianne]

Excellent post.

BUMP!

[Eric Blair 2084]

No. I take full responsibility. It’s all my fault.

The Buck stops here.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Step into my office....You’re fired.

[Shery]

Thanks for the post. I was planning to open a small business to supplement our retirement with, but I see that I could hardly hope for it to be profitable, and might even cause us to lose our retirement..although it will probably not be enough to actually live on!

[2ndDivisionVet]

PING!

[Enchante]

Don’t know why anyone would want to be in business under the Obamanation if they could retire and play golf.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

IMHO while you’re busy shrugging, Atlas is going to take all of your former customers. :)

Nobody wins by quitting.

Ever.

[ari-freedom]

and then the only people with jobs are those employed by the govt

[greedo]

The easiest way to downsize a company after the election:

Fire anyone with an OBAMA'08 bumper sticker.

Firing Employees who voted for Obama

[bruinbirdman]

"and then the only people with jobs are those employed by the govt"

Which is exactly the goal of a majority of Congress.

They would also like to confiscate all private property, so there is an incentive for some to work to prevent that.

yitbos

[GVnana]

Boy, this strikes close to home. I used to made a good living writing construction loans for new homes, remodels, owner-builder projects. Sometimes these loans would take a year to put into place. Despite the nutty federal regulations, I loved my work.

I sat by and watched as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agressively entered the sub-prime mortgage market, and I was naive enough to scratch my head and say, "Gee. The U.S. must be doing pretty good if we're able to loosen lending guidelines like this."

I have no idea what this industry will look like two years from now, and for me, that's no way to build a future. I'm out, and whatever I do I'll be lying low.

[DaveTesla]

“Nobody wins by quitting.”

No we just get beat to death and die of a stroke.
Besides, we can’t quit.

[LZ_Bayonet]

"We got into business to be independent. We will get out for the same reason. "

GM, are you listening?

[ME-262]

No we just get beat to death and die of a stroke.

Or lose most of our hair gain 40 pounds get an ulcer and watch years of excruciating work go up in flames as the biggest screw-ups of all line up to get their billion dollar bailouts while we get kicked in the nuts. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't been through this once already. After 9-11 my aircraft parts manufacturing business lost all of its work. We got zero dollars in grant or loan money from any governmental agency during the entire 9 years of our operation. Meanwhile the airlines who only had a small decrease in customers got 15 Billion as a bailout and not a dime of it trickled down to us.

I guess it is time for me to grab my ankles again for sacrificing the easy life to create jobs and pioneer new manufacturing technology. BOHICA!

It is just sad that this is the second time my wife is getting dragged through it, and now I've got two little ones also. I'd like to be an inspiration to my kids to chase their dreams, but I might just only end up proving to them that 'No good deed goes unpunished!'

[Bhoy]

Where is John Galt?

[gotribe]

I too helped destroy the manufacturing base, by refusing to waste my hard earned dollars on union built, Democratic Party supporting US autos. I’d rather feather the pagoda of a Japanese capitalist than lend a hand to an American socialist.

[Alia]

The author is right.

[Texas Fossil]

You nailed it! Only those who work for the government will have a job!!!!

If you want to see the future, look at Zimbawe, and Mugabe.

Welcome to New Kenya (Africa U.S.A.)

“Where the law of the jungle has replaced the Law of the Land”.

de Texas Fossil

[Leisler]

Wait till January and February numbers come in. They will scare the bee-Jesus out of all except the over educated Democrat Marxists who will rub their hands with glee at the sights of millions of so-called Americans throwing their children's liberty at their feet for some food stamps.